Greg Bulla's Blog

The plush shag carpet.

The huge posters on the walls.

Just a couple of things I remember about one of my favorite local record stores when I was a kid. We had a place at the local mall called “Marty’s Record Shop”. Every time I walked into that record store, it was like walking into a musical wonderland.

Some kids loved the toy store. Some couldn’t wait to go to the candy store or ice cream shop.

For me, the record store was my place. I was in awe of all those posters on the wall. Some of them looked bigger than my bedroom. Posters of Aerosmith, Van Halen, and . . . of course . . . KISS.

Side note . . . this is the record store where, in the late 1970’s, I got an awesome supersized KISS poster (“Love Gun” era). It took up half of my wall. It also met an untimely end at the hands of a walkie-talkie antenna because . . . well . . . it’s been 47 years, but the wounds are still fresh. I’d rather not talk about it. 😏

So I’d spend several minutes just staring at all of those posters before I’d look at the records. Those rock stars on the walls were larger than life figures to me then. I’d finally get around to browsing the records when someone would remind me we didn’t have all day in there.

Let’s be honest, I would always go straight to the KISS record section. I would usually find “KISS Alive I” and just look at that double album set, thinking . . . that’s TWO records in there. Then, I’d look at the price and see that’s a $12 on there.

In the late 70’s, my allowance wasn’t near enough to cover that. And I didn’t have quite enough leverage or bargaining power to negotiate with my parents to get any of those records.

Ok, I had no leverage or bargaining power, so it took a while before my record collection grew.

But, really, it was a thrill to browse. I looked at other records too. When I wasn’t staring in amazement at the wall posters, I was admiring album cover art. One record I would always love to find in the record store was the “Grease” soundtrack. It had John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John on the cover and pictures from the movie.

Another album I wanted so bad for a long time.

These memories made “Marty’s Record Shop” a special place. But what also made it special was that it was a small, local store. All the kids from my school, other older kids I knew . . . all went to this same shop.

It was our common gathering place as music fans, no matter our age. And it gave us something to talk about.

Sure, we had “Peaches Records & Tapes”, which was cool, too, but was more of a “superstore” than it was a cool, local shop in the community.

Just the same, I miss those record store memories, but I support the local record shops still around today, because . . . I still love me some vinyl!

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Relive childhood in the late 1970’s with my books in The Walter Stories series, available now.

So the stories from my 70’s childhood roll on this week. You might have seen this article title and wondered what in the world I’m writing about this week.

Well, it goes like this.

It’s early 1977. We haven’t lived in our new neighborhood very long, but I’m already friends with the older neighbor kid next door. I go over to his house one day and go into his room. Now, I thought the beaded curtain in the doorway was cool.

But, no. He had posters on his wall of four guys in superhero outfits with makeup on.

One with some silver spaceman design on his face.

Another one with bat wings painted on his eyes (Hey, I was 4 and they looked like bat wings to me then 😄).

One painted up like a cat.

And the one guy with a star over his right eye.

Yes, this was my introduction to KISS. I had never seen anything like them before.

Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley, Peter Criss, and Gene Simmons . . . all four looked like superheroes that had just stepped out of the pages of a comic book.

Sure, I loved Spiderman, Batman, and Incredible Hulk, but KISS was something different. I’m holding the Destroyer album in my hand, looking at the posters, both from the Destroyer or Rock and Roll Over album era. I believe one of them was the poster with all four members sitting on motorcycles, but anyway.

I had two questions for my friend . . .

Who is that?

What do they do?

He said, “Oh, that’s KISS. They’re a rock band.”

He played some of Destroyer. I’m tellin’ y’all, I was like “Wow!”.

The heavy beats, the guitars, the upbeat tempo. It was so much fun to listen to.

I went home and started the one year-plus time span of me bugging my parents to buy me a KISS record. I finally got one for Christmas in 1978, Paul’s 1978 solo album. I played that record to death. I even memorized where the skips were. 😄

When I found out “KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park” was coming on TV, I didn’t stop talking about it for the next several weeks before it aired. At the time, I thought that film was a masterpiece.

For Halloween 1979 I dressed up as Gene Simmons. My mom bought me one of those Collegeville KISS costumes that came out in the late 70’s. I had the face paint on and everything. 😄

A couple of years after that Halloween, me and a buddy of mine in third grade wanted to put on a “KISS show” for the school. What that meant . . . we had NO idea! Thank goodness the principal never said “Ok” or we would’a been stuck.

Oh, and KISS is the reason my record collection grew like it did. Going into the 80’s, I was on a mission to collect all their records . . . and at one time had all the regular releases. The first time opening up KISS Alive II . . . that was something, with that gatefold photo and the “Evolution of KISS” poster book inside!

With National Record Store Day coming in just a few days, I really wanted to revisit where my love for records and music really took off. It’s cool to look back at these good childhood musical memories. There sure are a lot of ‘em. 😏

So . . . with that, let me remind you all . . .

Don’t forget to rock and roll all night . . . and just go ahead and party every day while you’re at it.

Enjoy National Record Store Day this Saturday (04/18).

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Relive childhood in the late 1970’s with my books in The Walter Stories series, available now.

The crackle as soon as the needle drops on that solid black vinyl spinning on the record player . . .

I feel it and hear it, almost like it was yesterday, which is . . . actually not too far from the truth.

Remember when we held music in our hands, one album at a time? Nothing against 8-track tapes, but right now I’m talking about records, those solid black vinyl records. (Side note: You can read my earlier article about 8-track tapes here.) Man, that was slick when that vinyl was unspoiled by dust . . . or fingerprints, ‘cause the record hadn’t been handled yet.

Well . . . maybe you were a little bit excited about pulling KISS’ “Double Platinum” out of the sleeve for the first time and got a fingerprint or two where “Detroit Rock City” or “Black Diamond” were on the record . . . 😏

Anyway, vinyl records were special to me, and to a lot of us kids back in the late 70’s and early 80’s. I didn’t want to listen to just a song or two. I wanted to listen to an album. I mean, I would most often listen to a record all the way through Side A, flip that thing over, and listen all the way through Side B.

Also, to be honest, it was a pain anyway, trying to drop that needle right on the line for a specific song on the record. Younger readers, you don’t know that struggle, but that struggle was real. Ain’t no skip button with records.

Oh and that album cover art! I loved those album covers on the records when I was a kid. I remember thinking how cool the cover of KISS’ “Destroyer” album was the first time I saw it. Same with Pink Floyd’s “The Wall”.

You got visual art and musical art in the same package.

And the double album sets! Those usually meant a cool gatefold photo or art. “KISS Alive II” . . . best gatefold photo of all-time. The “Grease” soundtrack . . . gatefold looked like pages out of the Rydell High yearbook. (Hey, remember I’m a 70’s baby. 😄)

For those of us who grew up with records, listening to music was so much more intentional back then. We usually sat down to listen to a record because we wanted to listen to that record. AM radio was our casual listening.

Today, I think vinyl records are cool and nostalgic, not mainstream like they used to be. They’re also more of a collectible kind of thing now, with colored vinyl or vinyl with art on it. To each their own, but I am old school and much prefer the solid black record.

And yes, I learned long ago to hold the record on the edge to avoid the fingerprints.

One more thing. National Record Store Day 2026 is this month, April 18th. Find a record store near you and celebrate the magic of vinyl records!

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Relive childhood in the late 1970’s with my books in The Walter Stories series, available now.

A leather jacket, records, jukeboxes . . . three things I really wanted in the late 1970’s.

Well, the records because I’ve always loved music.

As for jukeboxes, I thought they looked cool (still do), and I could just hit buttons to play another record without having to pick them up and worry about scratching them.

And the leather jacket . . . well, because a leather jacket made The Fonz look cool, so I figured I’d look cool with one, too.

On “Happy Days”, Fonzie was the “cool” role model to me. Hey, just being able to tap a jukebox with his fist or elbow and have it play the perfect song was something I thought everyone would want to be able to do.

I remember many times when Fonzie would help Richie, not by taking up for him, but showing Richie how to stand up for himself. He was like the big brother we did get to see throughout the series (since Chuck magically disappeared early on, but never mind that). He taught Richie how to stand up to school bullies. He also had the ability to give Richie that “what are you thinking” look, too, when Richie was losing his self confidence.

Fonzie was the role model Richie needed. Something really good about Fonzie . . . something I didn’t really pick up on watching “Happy Days” as a kid, but noticed when I got older . . . he was vulnerable enough where he could learn something from Richie, too.

After Fonzie hurt his knee doing a motorcycle jump at Arnold’s and had to have surgery, Richie got after him when Fonzie was worried that acting hurt would make him not cool.

When Fonzie lost his eyesight, Richie wouldn’t let him feel defeated and stay down on himself. By getting Fonzie to put his motorcycle together again before his eyesight came back, Richie showed Fonzie that he could still be Fonzie, even without his sight.

Of course, Richie’s friend, Ralph Malph, taking Fonzie’s motorcycle apart again because he didn’t know Fonzie’s eyesight came back . . . good thing Ralph could run 😄.

This brings me to one last thing I’ll say about The Fonz. He let Richie help him, but was always there for Richie, too. I still remember the episode where Richie got hurt trying to ride a motorcycle. Fonzie stayed by Richie’s bedside in the hospital, saying that Richie was his best friend and he didn’t want to lose him.

Even as a kid, I saw that as Fonzie being someone who cared about his friends. That really made him look cool to me.

So, yeah, Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli was what cool was to me in the 1970’s. I could hold out my thumbs back then and go “Ayyyy!” . . . I just needed that leather jacket 😏. I believe I would’ve had my office somewhere other than the men’s room, though.

Fonzie should’ve had Al or Arnold set him up better than that.

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So . . . what did I learn from “Welcome Back, Kotter”?

Well, let’s see. Let me step back and say that it was my favorite show when I was a kid in the 1970’s. I laughed myself silly every week watching it. For a teacher, Mr. Kotter was pretty funny. As much as I liked my kindergarten and first-grade teachers, they weren’t anything like Mr. Kotter. No corny jokes to start class. No sarcasm.

But of course there was no sarcasm in those two grades . . . paddling was still a thing . . . but that’s another story.

Anyway, I always thought Mr. Kotter was cool because he could still joke with students, but be the “adult in charge”, too. He actually liked the kids, no matter how much he fussed at “The Sweathogs”.

This show is also where I became a John Travolta fan, since “Vinny Barbarino” was my favorite character on the show. I loved his wisecracks in the classroom scenes and how he always tried to show how cool he was. I didn’t try to mimic the “Vinny Barbarino walk”.

Ok . . . maybe I did . . . but I have no recollection of that.

And everybody didn’t have a cell phone then . . . so there’s no proof that I did.

The “Greased Lightnin’” dance? I may have performed that one for the neighborhood a time or two, but . . .

Back to “Welcome Back, Kotter”. What did I learn? Ok, here goes . . .

The phrase “Up ya nose with a rubber hose” might sound funny on television, but it most likely produces a different reaction when said in the company of adults . . . more specifically when some of those adults are your parents.

Trying to get attention by throwing your hand in the air and shouting “Oohhh, oohhh, oohhh!” is not the thing to do. Guaranteed to get you some side-eye for sure . . . or worse.

If you’re gonna bring an excuse note to school . . . for anything . . . might be a good idea to put some thought into it, or at least use your mom’s actual name?

And . . . well, those are really the main things.

I tell y’all, this is another one of those classic TV shows from my childhood I really miss. I look for it on the different streaming channels and watch it when I find it. I look for memorabilia about it, too. Next to a KISS lunchbox, a “Welcome Back, Kotter” lunchbox was my top choice. I did own an “Arnold Horshack” stuffed figure back then, though, complete with a scarf like Horshack wore on the show.

Fun 1970’s memories. Any fans of this show out there?

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Relive childhood in the late 1970’s with my books in The Walter Stories series, available now.

One of my favorite shows to watch on TV as a kid in the 1970’s was the Batman TV show, which originally aired in the late 1960’s. This was one of those shows that I never knew exactly what channel it would be on or where it would be on. I usually just happened to see it on when I was flipping channels . . . yes, all three or four of ‘em.

The 1960’s Batman show definitely didn’t have the fancy effects and such that the Batman movies of today have, but I’ve always thought there was an old school kind of coolness and fun about the 1960’s show.

Adam West, to this day, remains one of my favorite Batman’s. He was so deliberately not cool that he was . . . well, cool. Being only about six or seven at the time, I had no kind of special effects Batman movie or show to compare this to. I only knew that this was a real person Batman and Robin, not the animated kind like I was seeing on “Superfriends”. The overly dramatic, stiff presentation is what I thought Batman was supposed to be like on TV.

I loved the late 1960’s musical soundtrack to the Batman TV show and all the colorful sets, too. Fun fact, I have the soundtrack album from the TV series. I bought it at the next-door neighbor’s yard sale back when I was six.

I gotta say, I did get a kick out of how they danced on that show. I was informed by my parents that it was, indeed, how the kids danced back then.

They were authorities on the subject, after all.

The Batmobile . . . to this day one of the best TV or movie cars (right along with the car from “Grease”, but that’s another story). I mean, the Batmobile still looks cool even for today, as far as I’m concerned.

Oh, and the villains on that show. Cesar Romero played a mean joker. I knew he was supposed to be an evil villain, but I always enjoyed the episodes he was on so much. The Penguin was a good bad-guy, too. Quirky and evil . . . just not as funny as The Joker.

My favorite villain of the 1960’s Batman series, though . . . without a doubt, Catwoman. She got to Batman. He always seemed less willing to hand her over to Commissioner Gordon, than he was for Riddler, Joker, or Penguin. I didn’t really get why then . . . but I do now.

This brings up a good point of debate. Who was the best Catwoman? I’ve gotta go with Julie Newmar. Now, Eartha Kitt did a great job with the role, but I think Newmar’s Catwoman got along with Batman better than Kitt’s Catwoman did. When Newmar played Catwoman, it seemed to me that Catwoman liked Batman more.

Honestly, what I remember loving so much about watching the 1960’s Batman TV series back in the late 1970’s was that it was something different than a cartoon. It was the pages of the comics coming to life for me.

When I can find it, I still watch that classic series.

Who was your favorite villain on the 1960’s series? Who do you think played a better Catwoman?

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Relive childhood in the late 1970’s with my books in The Walter Stories series, available now.

When I was a kid in the late 1970’s, I remember prime time tv as being a big event that the whole family planned the evening around. Like I said last week, we only had three channels, but there was always something on and several shows I loved to watch.

Let me start by saying that “prime time tv” for me in the late 1970’s didn’t go much past 8:30pm . . . if it went that late at all during the week. However, I had Friday and Saturday nights when I got to stay up a liiiitle bit later, so . . . anyway.

Here are some of my favorites from the late 1970’s, starting in 1976.

Nobody on tv was cooler than “The Fonz” back then. This is one of the earliest shows I remember watching on a regular basis (except for “Welcome Back, Kotter”, but more on that later). This show made the 1960’s look like so much fun. I would’a been at Arnold’s every weekend, too.

Well . . . because it came on after “Happy Days”. These two ladies had me dyin’ laughing. I don’t know what made Laverne drink Pepsi and milk, or why Lenny had to bite his hand every time a pretty woman walked by, but every week they were all getting into something silly.

Without a doubt, one of my favorite shows in the late 1970’s, along with “CHiPs”. Remember when I said “The Fonz” was the coolest character on tv then? Well, “Vinny Barbarino” was a close second. Vinny, as the unofficial leader of “The Sweathogs” was cool in the funniest ways. It was something about the way he talked, trying to get over on Mr. Kotter (even though he knew he couldn’t) that made me just have to like him.

Now I managed to get mad a time or two back then, but I didn’t . . . I mean couldn’t . . . no, didn’t turn green and become a monster. But I did have the mild-mannered “David Benson” or “David Benning” . . . or “David Banner” persona down pretty well. The good thing is this show came on Friday nights, so I always got to stay up and watch it.

Firetrucks were bright red, loud, and cool. Just ask any of us elementary school-aged boys in the late 1970’s. Roy DeSoto and John Gage could handle any emergency, and be cool about it, too.

And finally, of course, there was “CHiPs”. I wrote about this show a few weeks ago. Like firetrucks, motorcycles were cool to me then. Ponch cuttin’ up every week on here always had me laughing, too.

What were your favorite shows from the late 1970’s?

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Just a few quick thoughts this week dedicated to those of us who grew up with a living room television set about half the size of the living room couch. It most likely had knobs even bigger than the tv set shown in the picture above.

Wherever that television started . . . it stayed. Pieces of furniture twice the size of those old tv’s would get moved around a lot more than a 1970’s living room television set.

And turning those knobs was a chore! How do I know? I was the remote.

Lucky for me . . . and others . . . there were only three channels back then. That’s right, to me back then, cable was just some kind of a cord. We had channel 12 (NBC), channel 8 (ABC), and channel 2 (CBS). Now, the knob on the front of our tv set in the late 1970’s was about the size of my hand. Yes, it took both hands to turn the channel knob on that monster.

You know, I never understood why the numbers went past 12, when we didn’t have a single channel past that one. I don’t care how much we played with the rabbit ear antenna, we were lucky to get our three local channels to come in.

Oh and about that rabbit ear antenna, if I even looked at it too long, I was told to leave it alone . . . but nobody was telling me to leave the channel knob alone. No, I’d get “See what’s on channel 2” . . . so I’d get up, prepare with my weightlifting chalk, and turn the knob to channel 2.

Qualified to change the channel, but not allowed to fine tune the picture.

Maybe, I shouldn’t have always sat in the floor, closest to the tv, back then.

Hmm . . .

Anyway, I don’t miss that old-school monstrosity of a television. Getting rid of that thing was like having an addition made to the house. Nowadays I can change the channel from across the room, with a remote that fits in my shirt pocket.

So I don’t have to get up to change the channel for anybody 😏

Which is good . . . since we have over 200 channels now . . .

And I still only watch about three of ‘em 😄

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Relive childhood in the late 1970’s with my books in The Walter Stories series, available now.

“And what do you know about The Midnight Special, Thomas?”, Mrs. Campbell answered in her own “Wolfman Jack” voice.

Everyone in the classroom was laughing at Mrs. Campbell. I’m shakin’ my head, but smilin’. Tommy is eatin’ the attention up.

“Welcome to tha Midnight Special!”, Tommy says, still doing his best “Wolfman Jack”.”

from “Walter, Whatever will be, will be”

Just like with Tommy, Walter, and Johnny in “Walter, Whatever will be, will be”, I also didn’t get to stay up and watch “The Midnight Special”. I was a long ways away from the days of getting to stay up that late.

Lucky for me there is good old YouTube and “The Midnight Special” channel. There’s a lot of individual performances on there and many full episodes, as well. During its original run, the show featured many of the classic groups and artists of the 1970’s that I grew up listening to on AM radio.

Here are some of my favorite performances, publicly available on “The Midnight Special” YouTube channel (links included):

“Deuce” - from the July 11, 1975 episode

“Black Diamond” - also from the July 11, 1975 episode

As a kid in the 1970’s, I couldn’t get enough of KISS on tv. Really I couldn’t, since we didn’t have cable then, and there was no MTV. These performances aired before I found out about KISS, but there is no doubt that in a different time, I would’a been all over this. Great stuff from the era of “KISS-tory” prior to me joining the “KISS Army”.

“Rhiannon” - from the February 27, 1976 episode

I love Fleetwood Mac and this one has always been one of my favorites from the band.

Medley featuring “She’s Gone”, “Sara, Smile”, and “Rich Girl” - from the November 10, 1978 episode

What else can I say, other than this clip has three of my all-time favorite Hall & Oates tunes in it.

Some of the best songwriting . . ever

“Crazy on You” - from the March 4, 1977 episode

As much as this song rocks, it’s the acoustic picking from Nancy Wilson at the song’s beginning that does it for me.

The Wilson sisters rock!

“Show Me the Way” - from the December 19, 1975 episode

My favorite Peter Frampton song. I mean, the music here just feels like the 70’s to me. Fortunately, I eventually did get to see him perform this one live.

And yes . . . “Frampton Comes Alive” is one of the best live rock albums of all time.

I could go on with this list, but these are some of my favorites from “The Midnight Special”. What favorite performances or memories do y’all have of this classic show?

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Relive childhood in the late 1970’s with my books in The Walter Stories series, available now.

“Dun, dun, da, dun dun . . . da, da, da, dun dun . . . da dun dun . . .”

I still hear the theme song playing in my head. There are few things I looked forward to more than Thursday and Saturday nights in the late 1970’s and a new episode of “CHiPs” on NBC. While the camera shots of Ponch and Jon cruising down the California freeways rolled and they zoomed in on the CHiP badge . . . and the pistol they each carried, I was humming along with the theme song . . .

Yeah . . . just like at the top of the article.

As cool as I thought firemen and the show “Emergency!” were (see article here), Ponch and Jon and the California Highway Patrol (CHiP) were right there with ‘em. I always thought the fact that Ponch and Jon rode around on motorcycles was pretty cool. The motorcycles were loud and went fast . . . everything a little boy around age 6 or 7 would want, right?

Kinda like the 1967 Chevelle my dad had in the 1970’s . . . but that’s another story for another day 😏

Officer Frank “Ponch” Poncherello and Officer Jon Baker, played by Erik Estrada and Larry Wilcox respectively, were one of my favorite duos to watch on television. You had Ponch always cuttin’ up with his jokes and flirting with the ladies and Jon being serious and trying not to let his partner get too crazy . . . and that was just about every episode.

But let me say something for the one character on the show who I think didn’t get enough credit . . . Harlan Arliss (played by Lou Wagner). He was the mechanic who fixed the motorcycles and just about anything Ponch or Jon needed him to. Probably a lot of cases the guys wouldn’t have solved without Harlan’s help.

But you don’t hear his name come up too much when folks talk about “CHiPs”.

“CHiPs” is one of those tv shows I could’ve kept on watching year after year if it had stayed on. The “Ponch” and “Jon” characters were cool and likable. I mean, they were good guys so how could you not like them?

The show carried on until 1983. I did see the tv movie, “CHiPs ‘99”. Seeing Ponch and Jon reunited brought back a lot of childhood memories of watching the original series.

Sure would love to see them bring it back for another reunion in some kind of way.

How ‘bout y’all? Any favorite episodes or moments from the original series?

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Relive childhood in the late 1970’s with my books in The Walter Stories series, available now.